AUSTIN, Texas -- While many University of Georgia students may still be recovering from last week's spring break, another segment of Athens' population is in the midst of a somewhat different annual spring pilgrimage.

Dozens of representatives of the Athens music scene flock to Austin each March for the annual South By Southwest Music and Media Conference and Festival. In its fifteenth year, SXSW is the largest event of its kind, drawing an international slate of bands, record executives, music journalists, avid music fans and just about anyone else with a keen interest in music in general. This year's event continues through Sunday.

Some of the bigger names at this year's festival include Lucinda Williams, Ray Davies, David Byrne, Ike Turner, DeeDee Ramone and Ozzy Osbourne. Athens bands and musicians in attendance include The Four Corners, I Am the World Trade Center, Japancakes, Drive-By Truckers, the Glands, Vic Chesnutt, Kevn Kinney and Je Suis France.

What began in 1987 as a weekend event designed to showcase unknown bands and smaller independent record labels has grown into a week-and-a-half long entertainment industry festival that includes both film and interactive media festivals as well as music.

''These days it's so industry-driven on the top and the bottom that it's tough for the underground unknown bands to get anywhere with it,'' said Ballard Lesemann, attending SXSW for the fourth year in a row as music editor for Flagpole magazine, the alternative weekly known for its coverage of Athens' music scene.

''It has gotten too big and many of the bands don't really belong there. They are not 'new' undiscovered talent. They are just the bands that record labels have already signed and wish to promote,'' said Jared Bailey, director of AthFest, Athens' own burgeoning music festival, which will celebrate its fifth year June 21-24.

Despite such criticism of the event, Bailey, who has been attending SXSW for 12 years, acknowledges that he considers the event to be ''a model for AthFest but not necessarily a blueprint.''

''I would like AthFest to become as big an event, but I feel that our focus will remain on the local music and the town itself as opposed to a no-holds barred schmoozefest on any and every band in the world,'' he said.

''It's certainly a way for our music and arts community to continue to create awareness of our 'scene' within the larger circles of the music and entertainment business,'' he said. ''For so long, we've been overshadowed by bands like R.E.M. and the B-52's, that it's good to let the world know that there are hundreds of lesser-known acts that exist here. It's also a chance for some of the AthFest committee folks to meet others in the music business and establish relationships with potentially valuable contacts. It's good to meet with other festival organizers to gain some knowledge that may help us to become a better festival.''

Team Clermont, a college radio promotions company based in Athens, has been sending representatives to SXSW for eight years. ''We try and make our presence felt at every big music event that is pertinent to college radio,'' said Nelson Wells, president of Team Clermont. ''Typically SXSW is not heavily college radio-oriented, but over half of our clients are there and we want to show them our support as well as talk a little business.''

SXSW is definitely an event at which the lines between business and pleasure become intoxicatingly fuzzy. With more than 1,000 bands playing some 50 venues over the course of four nights, not to mention private afternoon parties that range from fancy cocktail hours hosted by SPIN magazine to backyard beer and barbecue bashes thrown by Austin townie-types, it's a wonder any work gets done at all.

But the coalition of Athenians that attend SXSW each year seem to agree that it's more about having fun -- the handful of business contacts occasionally made only add to the flavor.

''To me SXSW is about seeing all of my friends from around the world who I don't normally get to hang out with. I love meeting with everyone in Austin outside of our normal routines and just having fun,'' said Ryan Lewis of Athens-based Kindercore Records. ''The business end of things can be helpful but it can also be a total downer so it is vital to temper all the work with plenty of drinking and rocking.''

For the second year in a row at SXSW, Kindercore has hosted a showcase of bands who have released recordings on their label. This year's showcase, held Wednesday night, featured Lewis' band, The Four Corners, as well as I Am The World Trade Center, an electronic music outfit fronted by Lewis' Kindercore partner Dan Gellar. The showcase was headlined by Japancakes, the Athens instrumental band that has gained a respectable amount of attention from the mainstream press such as SPIN and Newsweek.

Asked if Japancakes' SXSW appearance last year led to some of the attention they've received throughout the year, bassist Nick Bielli said, ''It may have; it's hard to tell. We got press coverage last year ... it's hard to gauge at this point, but it was definitely fun.''

SXSW is certainly full of entertainment industry movers and shakers, but Lesemann, who also is attending the festival as the sole Athens member of the Rock*A*Teens, an Atlanta-based band, is quick to point out that the chances of getting ''discovered'' at such a huge event are pretty slim.

''It's expensive to apply and there's thousands of people who do it,'' he said, explaining the process of garnering an invite to the festival.

''If you're lucky, you might get in and then you've got to go all the way across the country on your own expense. You get there and the place is packed with people and you're lucky if anybody stops to take a look at you at all ... All that hassle -- is it worth it?'' asked Lesemann. ''The unknown, unsigned bands are still at the bottom of the totem pole and you've got to know that and go out there and just have a blast and come back.''

Of the 20,000 people (according to the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau) attending SXSW this year, there certainly are the expected numbers of cell-phone chatting, Powerbook-wielding, music executive-types leaving trails of business cards and living it up on corporate expense accounts. But many of those hailing from Athens and beyond seem more concerned with simply having a good time and wallowing in the spirit of comradery that is an integral part of the music industry.

''It's like an indie rock Spring Break Mardi Gras,'' offers Lesemann.

Staff Writer Melissa Link can be reached at mlink@onlineathens.com or (706) 208-2316.

This article published in the Athens Daily News on Saturday, March 17, 2001.